Improvement in cotton-presses



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHAN CHAPMAN, OF MYSTIC RIVER, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 19,07] dated January12, 1858.

To all whom it may concern,.-

l Be it known that I, NATHAN CHAPMAN, of Mystic River, in the county ofNew London and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Presses for Pressing Cotton,Hay ,and otherSubstances; and I do hereby declare that the same are described andrepresented in the following speciiications and drawings.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvements, Iwill proceed to describe their 'construction and operation, referring tothc drawings, in which the same letters indicate like parts in each ofthe figures.

Figure l is a plan or top view of a press with my improvements, thepress-box lying horizontal. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same with thepress-box turned upright in whole lines, and horizontal in broken lines.

The nature of my improvements in presses for pressing cotton, hay, andother substances consists in making the rods which connect the head andfoot of the press in two parts, and connecting them by a hinged joint,so that one of the parts can be vibrated while the other remainsstationary; also, in hanging the press box on pivots, so that it may beturned npright to be lled, and turned horizontal to press the cotton,hay, or other substance with which it is filled; also, in soconstructing and arranging the pivots of the press-box that they mayserve for pins in the hinge-joints of the connecting-rods, and in makingthe boxes in which the pivots of the press-box turn to traverse on ways,so as to accommodate the position of the press-box as may be required;lastly, in arranging a bar to slide ina groove, for the purpose ofholding the follower in place while the press-box is turned up to beiilled, and to guide it in the press-box while it is pressing the bale.

In the accompanying drawings, A A are the sills of the press, connectedby the cross-bars B and B, and supported by the posts C C, which may beset in the ground or secured to the floor, so as to hold the sills firmin a proper position while the press is worked. There is a rabbet, D,cut in the inside top corner of each of the sills A A, for the blocks EE to traverse in, which blocks are connected by cross-bars fastened totheir lower edges, and shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 at F F, and thereis a score cut in the top of each of the blocks E for the pivots G G ofthe press-box H, and caps I I are fastened over the pivots G G, as shownin the drawings. The pressboX H may be made of a frame of scantling,lined with plank, or in such other manner as will answer the purpose,and the pivots G G upon which it turns are rmly fastened to bars ofmetal, one of which is shown at G', Fig. 2, which bars G are firmlyfastened to the pressbox II. The foot J of the press is fastened orconnected to the pivots on the press-box by the staples K K, made in theform shown in the drawings, so as to receive the pivots G G in the loopsof the staples. Fach leg of each staple passes through metal bracketsfastened to the press-box, (one of which brackets is shown at L, Fig.2,) and then through the foot J, and secured by nuts M M, or otherwise.The foot of the press-box is formed of movable doors N N and O O'. Thetwo former t into grooves in the latter, to hold them in place. Thedoors O O are fastened to the staples K K bythe hinges PI), and door Ois represented as thrown open in Fig. l. The doors O and'O' may befastened, when closed, by some clasps or clamps, made to embrace theends of the doors. The cross-bar Q is fastened to the sills A A, tosupport the standards R R and to aid in supporting the bar S. which isfastened to it and to the bar B. This bar S has a groove, T, in it forthe bar T to traverse in, which bar is fastened to the follower-block U,to hold it in place while the press-box is turned upright, tto betil1ed,) as shown in Fig. 2, and to guide the follower in the press-boxwhile it is pressing the bale. The head V of the press has a score inthe under side, to traverse on the bar S, and is connected to the pivotsG G of the press-box by the rods XV V, which are provided with an eye toslip onto the pivot and with a nut at the opposite end to hold the headV. These rods are braced apart, to allow the toggle-joints and arms'roomto pass 'between them, by the braces X X. The toggle-stands Y Y, links ZZ, and knuckles a a may all be madeas represented in the drawings, or insuch other form as may be desirable, and one of the stands Y 'may befastened to the head V, and the other to the follower-block U, and theknuckles a a, provided with female screws to fit the right-and-leftscrew b, which screw is fitted to turn in boxes c c, fastened to thestandards R R, and has its center supported 2 laovl by the box d,fastened to the bar S, as shown in the drawings. rIhis screw b mayhavegcars, pulleys, cranks, or such other devices as may be preferredapplied to one or both ends, to turnit and operate the press by thetogglelinks Z Z.

In using the above-described press Iput all the doors in place and turnthe press-box perpendicular, as shown in Fig. 2, and fill it with thesubstance, to be pressed in the usual or some other manner, and thenturn the box into a `horizontal position, asl shown in Fig. -1, and bydotted linesA in Fig. 2, and then turn the screw, so as to draw theknuckles together or up to thev box d, so as to straighten the tog-`gles and move the press-box to the right and the follower to the left,the boxes ce and d with the screw remaining stationary, one half of thescrew having a right and the other a left hand thread, so as to work theknuckles equally in each direction when the screw is turned. The doorsof the press may now be opened and the bale hooped in the usual manner,when the screw may be turned so as to draw the knuckles apart and letthe bale fall out, when the doors may be put in place and the operationrepeated.

I contemplate that rollers may be applied to the blocks E E to run onthe ways on the sills A A, or wheels substituted for the blocks; also,that the rods may be welded so as to forni long links, with one narrowend for the pivot on the press-box, and the other end 4wide for the endof the head or foot of the press.

.I believe I have described and represented my improvement in pressesfor pressing cotton, hay, or other substances so as'to enable any personskilled in the art to make and use them. I will now state what I desireto secure by Letters Patent, to wit:

I claiml. Making the rods which connect the head and foot of the pressin two parts, and connecting them by a hinged joint, so that one of theparts may be vibrated while the other remains stationary, substantiallyas described.

2. Hanging the press-box on pivots so that it may be turned upright tobe filled and turned horizontal to press the cotton, hay, or othersubstance with which it is filled, substantially as described.

3. So constructing and arranging the pivots of the press-box that theymay serve for pins in the joints of the connecting-rods, substantiallyas described.

4. Making the boxes in which the pivots of the press-box turn totraverse on Ways, lsubstantially as described.

5. The bar T/ and groove T, as described,

in combination with the follower, for the pur pose of holding it inposition while the pressbox is turned up to be lle'd and to guide it inthe press-box while it is pressing the bale.

NATI-IAN CHAPMAN.

Vitnesses:

I. DENNIs, J r., WILBUR F. FORT, J.F. CALLAN.

